With a brother at Oxford, perhaps the two of you could work on a theory, whereby the remains of the Nephites dropped into the sea when the land changed at the end of the First Age. I doubt the Dude would attempt to take on that one.
I would love to out smart the Dude.
Believe it or not, I could handle the oceanography component, but would lose interest on the geography side of things. Besides, what would a Brother-in-Law at Oxford have to do with Nephites dropping into the sea? The man does Stem Cell Research.
Because all the reasearch on the First Age was done at Oxford by professor JRR Tolkien. He's the one who translated the Elven plates into English, which we now possess as the Quenta Silmarillion. In this most sacred record it is told how after the final battle against Melkor, the northwestern-most part of Middle Earth sank into the sea. Perhaps the Nephite civilization went with it, along with the principal Noldor and Sindar (Elven) kingdoms. The Book of Mormon doesn't say anything about Elves and Orcs, but following the precedent of allowing unmentioned "other" civilizations to account for the prevelence of Asian DNA in Native Americans, this should not be a problem.
Maybe your brother-in-law could access some of professor Tolkien's unpublished notes and uncover further evidence in favor of the MEGT (Middle-Earth Geography Theory). Rather than try to take down this theory, I would bolster it with my most sincere cheerleading.
HAHA, that has to be one of the coolest arguments I've heard in a long time.
Too bad im part of the "middle-earth" theology from which tolkien uses to help write is stuff.
One nice thing is, ze game of love is never called on account of darkness - Pepe Le Pew
truth dancer wrote:I think Nibley's work is another good example of apologetic work that goes largely uncriticized.
Apologists have sort of disregarded it but certainly won't come out and admit a lot of it was, less than valuable.
~dancer~
Actually Nibley is heavily criticized by many LDS scholars. Professor Jackson wrote a review of one of his books that is often quoted by anti-Mormons as proof that we don't even support our own scholars. What do they want, that we support them or not? The reason people don't hear about the criticism is because they don't read what we write.
Unless I'm mistaken, Professor Jackson was severely reprimanded---"called on the carpet", so to speak---for his criticism of Nibley. I imagine you will have a difficult time providing any additional examples of Nibley criticism from noteworthy LDS scholars.
truth dancer wrote:I think Nibley's work is another good example of apologetic work that goes largely uncriticized.
Apologists have sort of disregarded it but certainly won't come out and admit a lot of it was, less than valuable.
~dancer~
Actually Nibley is heavily criticized by many LDS scholars. Professor Jackson wrote a review of one of his books that is often quoted by anti-Mormons as proof that we don't even support our own scholars. What do they want, that we support them or not? The reason people don't hear about the criticism is because they don't read what we write.
Unless I'm mistaken, Professor Jackson was severely reprimanded---"called on the carpet", so to speak---for his criticism of Nibley. I imagine you will have a difficult time providing any additional examples of Nibley criticism from noteworthy LDS scholars.
Some questions:
1. which of Nibley's books did Prof Jackson review? And what publication did he review the book for?
2. When did this take place?
3. Who called Prof Jackson on the carpet? Did the reprimand effect his employment status?
truth dancer wrote:I think Nibley's work is another good example of apologetic work that goes largely uncriticized.
Apologists have sort of disregarded it but certainly won't come out and admit a lot of it was, less than valuable.
~dancer~
Actually Nibley is heavily criticized by many LDS scholars. Professor Jackson wrote a review of one of his books that is often quoted by anti-Mormons as proof that we don't even support our own scholars. What do they want, that we support them or not? The reason people don't hear about the criticism is because they don't read what we write.
Unless I'm mistaken, Professor Jackson was severely reprimanded---"called on the carpet", so to speak---for his criticism of Nibley. I imagine you will have a difficult time providing any additional examples of Nibley criticism from noteworthy LDS scholars.
I believe that you are mistaken.
I do not know Kent Jackson very well. But Daniel Peterson is a good friend of mine. Dan has explained that this is absolutely not true. Kent and Dan are good friends. They’re in the same home stake. They served together on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for many years, and Dan currently serves on the high council in a UVSC student stake where Kent is a councilor to the president.
Kent and Dan have talked about this matter on two or three occasions. Kent was never reprimanded in any way whatsoever.
Mister Scratch wrote:Unless I'm mistaken, Professor Jackson was severely reprimanded---"called on the carpet", so to speak---for his criticism of Nibley.
My recollection is that early in 2006 (either here or on FAIR) Kevin Graham used the phrase "called on the carpet" to describe what he imagined was the reaction to Jackson's harsh criticisms of Nibley. Kevin never said any reprimand came from BYU or the Church, and his speculation appeared to be in response to DCP's earlier comment that he thought Jackson's criticisms of Nibley "went overboard." Nevertheless, DCP, with all umbrage he could muster, attacked Kevin for the statement; Kevin then explained the misunderstanding. Turned out to be 'much ado about nothing.'
"Moving beyond apologist persuasion, LDS polemicists furiously (and often fraudulently) attack any non-traditional view of Mormonism. They don't mince words -- they mince the truth."
-- Mike Quinn, writing of the FARMSboys, in "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View," p. x (Rev. ed. 1998)